or a few tips for those who have
decided to buy a mobile phone
 

The time when the latest models of mobile phones were brought from abroad has long passed. Today, any type of phone may be bought in Georgia. More and more shops get involved in the business and offer a broad range of mobile phones and supplementary accessories.

Despite the wide choice, however, it is not easy to decide which mobile phone to buy. There is such a variety of models and specifications that it is hard to distinguish between every nuance. Therefore you should carefully and without haste consider beforehand which model will meet your needs best.

This time we will tell you about the phones that are most popular in Georgia and the specifications whose knowledge, in our view, will be important in choosing your new “friend and companion”.

First of all, it is important to decide which specifications and functions you need most. They may be as follows:

* long durability of phone batteries
* small size and light weight
* high durability of the phone itself
* vibro signal
* menu in the required language
* message recording
* additional functions: clock, alarm, calculator, calendar and games.

When buying a mobile phone, another important factor has to be taken into account. You may in the future want to buy additional accessories such as a spare battery, a charger for in-car charging, a special kit to be installed in the car, an ear-phone, a charger for a spare battery, etc. Also, your telephone may need repair. Since most of the available accessories match only those phones that are manufactured by major companies, it would be more advisable to buy the label that is most widely used here.

Here is some advice also to those users who have decided to buy a mobile phone abroad:

- The first thing one should consider when buying a mobile is its system of operation. Our company operates within the GSM system at a frequency of 900 MHz. Consequently, the phone you buy should operate at the appropriate frequency. Since GSM is widely used in Europe, the GSM-compatible phones are more widely available here. In the United States, however, the AMPS-compatible phones that cannot be used in Georgia are more prevalent.

- To protect their market many operators worldwide use their network’s SIM card for blocking the phones. These phones become useless abroad as they cannot operate with a different network card. To avoid this, when buying a phone in a foreign country one should always inform the selling company that the phone will be used in another country. Do not buy  phones which cost 5-10 pounds as in most cases they are blocked.

- One more tip: do not buy mobile phones from strangers, either abroad or in Georgia.

Beware of stolen phones as the serial number of a stolen phone is communicated to operators and put on a blacklist restricting the use of the phone in all countries.

P.S: l All the parametres are taken from information booklets published by manufacturers.
- The durability of batteries is given for standard batteries (that are part of the kit). It also depends on the network configuration.
 
 

Model	Nokia 8810	Nokia 6110	Samsung SGH 600	Motorola V3688	Ericsson GH688	Motorola StarTac130	Sony Z1	Nokia 5100	Motorola cd920	Ericsson GF788	Ericsson GA628	Motorola d160	Philips Diga/Twist	Motorola 8700	Simens S8	Nokia8110i
Battary standby time (hrs)	36	70	55	100	65	100	50	70	105	60	83	50	30	75	60	30
Battery talktime (min)	100	180	150	180	210	180	480	180	270	180	195	160	60	180	240	50
Charging time (min)	150	240	240	120	120	150	240	240	180	90	180	90	150	90	120	60
Number of ringer tones	35	35	35	11	11	11	14	30	11	11	11	11	8	11	5	16
Phone memory	250	50	150	199	100	100	100	-	199	99	100	-	-	99	-	50
Vibration	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Dimensions (mm)	18x107x46	28x130x47	21x108x44	25x83x44	26x127x46	20x93x52	24x99x64	31x132x47	23x128x53	24x105x49	23x130x49	27x155x55	19x147x56	23x130x59	16x159x55	25x141x48
Weight (gr)	118	127	95	83	160	95	220	170	139	135	215	235	159	211	180	152
Note	If you wish to have a prestigious phone, buy Nokia 8810, which is much more than just a mobile phone.	Releasing of much smaller Nokia 8810 could not affect the popularity of this model; durability, long period of battery functioning, a lot of functions including calculator, alarm-clock and games.	Most popular model of Samsung with lots of functions, active flip, voice calling function.	Motorola’s smallest phone, discovery of 1999, probably the predecessor of 21st century model.	One of the best models of the Company with clock, alarm-clock and automatic blocking of key-pad.	Good transceiving, improved quality of  battery and mechanical endurance.	High level of signal, ability to record 20 sec. of talk, one of the best menus, graphical display, clock, calendar.	Ability to change panel colours, refined Russian menu, clock, alarm-clock, calculator, games.	Ability to record 3 minutes of talk, blocking of incoming call by pressing a key, high level of signal, conference-call.	Compact model, handy menu; drawback: phone memory does not keep answered calls.	Compact, minimum configuration, low price, automatic blocking of keypad.	Most popular model in Tbilisi, long period of battery functioning, durability.	One of the cheapest mobile phones with minimum of functions.	High level of signal, quick access, means of menu configuration changes, possibility to simultaneously  activate ringer and vibration.	Ability to block your phone on particular SIM, bar outgoing and incoming calls to the numbers kept in memory.	Ability to assign different ringer tones  to the numbers kept in memory, to answer incoming calls with no need to  open a flip.

LEVAN BUCHUKURI
Head of the Customer Service
and Marketing Department
MAGTICOM